Special Event on January 23, 2018 – Technology Fair for Faculty!

2017/2018 Activities…

Connect to the new Virtual Campus

Back on May 15, 2017 Symposium on virtual and augmented reality

In the spirit of showcasing the work of University of Ottawa professors and instructional staff, the Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS) was proud to organize its third annual Symposium on teaching and learning coined “Perspective”.

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Higher Education

This year’s theme explored the overall values virtual and augmented reality bring to teaching, learning and research through an exploration of how we are currently using this immersive technology across a number of academic disciplines, both within the University of Ottawa and elsewhere.

While we have had Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in various stages of development for the last 40 years, it is only over the last two years that we have witnessed a profound growth in the development of this exciting immersive media technology. A core set of recent technical breakthroughs have unleashed a huge increase in both Virtual and Augmented Reality (AR) devices and software advances. It has been suggested that VR and AR technologies will likely generate revenues of up to $150 billion by the year 2020.

There is hardly an industry today that has not been touched by emerging VR and AR technologies: gaming, entertainment, advertising, film, manufacturing and health care to name a few, have all begun to explore the vast potential of this transformative media technology.

We explored the work of a number of faculty members utilizing VR and AR in their teaching and research. It was a stimulating exploration and discussion around the role these powerful technologies plays in teaching, learning and research today and in the not-too-distant future.

See below Philip Rosedale's presentation Streamed live on May 15, 2017

What is High Fidelity & Where are we heading?

Second Life founder and former CEO Phillip Rosedale founded High Fidelity in 2013, with partners Ryan Downe and Freidrica Heiberger. The company was formed to create a next-generation social virtual reality platform. High Fidelity provides a platform for users to create, deploy and explore virtual worlds and ways in which we can interact within them. The software is free and open source, and currently supports the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive devices. Phillip Rosedale will showcase this incredible networked VR environment and speak to the educational potential such an immersive, collaborative and engaging environment it can foster.